In recent years, popularization of Bluetooth (registered trademark) low energy (hereinafter, referred to as a BLT) that is a short-range wireless communication standard which suppresses a power consumption is advancing. A wireless communication device that performs wireless communication based on this BLE performs any transmitting or receiving operation at a constant cycle even if there is no data to be transmitted or received in order to maintain a connection (link) with another wireless communication device that is a communication partner.
In order to reduce power consumption by such a transmitting or receiving operation, a wireless communication device has been proposed which changes the operation status (operation mode) in accordance with the presence or absence of data to be transmitted or received. For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2004-205578 that is an example JP Patent Literature discloses a wireless communication device which changes the mode from a data communication mode for performing normal data communication to a power saving mode for transmitting or receiving a necessary signal to maintain the link when there is no data to be transmitted or received, and which discontinues the connection (cancels the maintained link), thereby becoming an operation suspended status when that power saving mode has continued for a predetermined time period.
The above wireless communication device becomes the power saving mode when there is no data to be transmitted or received. However, the transmitting or receiving operation of the signal necessary to maintain the link is continuously performed at a constant cycle. Hence, power consumption originating from such a transmitting or receiving operation is still necessary.
In addition, when the power saving mode has continued for the predetermined time period, the connection is discontinued and the device becomes the operation suspended status, and thus a return operation and a re-connection operation are necessary. According to Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. 2004-205578 that is an example JP Patent Literature, however, a specific procedure of performing the return operation and the re-connection operation from the operation suspended status is not disclosed.
Therefore, when the wireless communication device discontinues the connection and becomes the operation suspended status, and when data to be transmitted or received is generated under such a circumstance, the re-connection with another wireless communication device has not completed in some cases at this timing. In this case, although there is data to be transmitted or received, data communication for such data is not enabled until the re-connection completes.